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Heinrich
A rather demented presence on radio in the Pacific Northwest, Heinrich is the host of "The Mouth of Saint Helens" radio station and quite possibly the last surviving member of the New Order. He has spouted bigoted and convoluted messages from his radio station for close to forty years with surprising consistency, showing no signs of stopping soon. History Childhood and Teenage Years In the hot summer of 2217, a female New Order footsoldier named Maxine went into labor. Maxine was a rare exception to the New Order's often rigid gender roles, which placed men as fighters and women as caregivers. The situation only became more difficult when the New Order fled Martha's Gulch. Maxine served as a motorized boat pilot and was quite good at her job. Her skill did not stop the sexual and verbal abuse that came from her fellow footsoldiers, which led to Maxine becoming rather traumatized. Isolated and scared, Maxine latched onto whatever positive attention she got and fell in love with a man who she thought would marry her. Maxine was mistaken though. She was subsequently left pregnant and even more alone than before. When her baby was finally born, Maxine named him Heinrich, after her paternal grandfather who sacrificed himself to take out a nosy Pantheon Radio reporter. Heinrich's birth heralded a series of difficulties for Maxine. She had to leave her position as a footsoldier to take care of her baby, living off of limited funds. Maxine and Heinrich were automatically ostracized for Maxine's single motherhood. Heinrich's situation was a rare one among the New Order, and Maxine feared for how the other children would treat him when he began compulsory footsoldier training. Despite the difficulties of her life, Maxine tried to make Heinrich as happy as possible. She tried to educate the little boy, teaching him both English and German, introducing him to the New Order's ideology, and taking him on as many "trips" to the outside as possible. Heinrich was a quick learner but did not really like reading books about ideology that much. The two often went around different parts of Seattle to marvel at pre-War civilization. This gave young Heinrich a very positive impression of the area outside of West Seattle and a great respect for his mother. Maxine's love however only set Heinrich up for failure in the future. Beginning his training at the age of ten, Heinrich was taken away from his mother to be trained with other prospective footsoldiers his age in 2226. A naive boy, Heinrich seemed to have no problem being taken away from his mother and was eager to go on "a new adventure". Heinrich did not understand his mother's weeping for him as he left despite him trying to comfort her. Maxine gave Heinrich a small figurine she scavenged to remember her, a pre-War Vault-Tec bobblehead. Heinrich's sheltered upbringing caused him to have a rude awakening when he was taken in for training. In his early days in hid training, Heinrich often talked about what a wonderful mother Maxine was to him and how special she told him he was. His other young recruits predictably responded negatively with Heinrich being thoroughly battered and verbally abused. A month or of this treatment all but broke Heinrich. He wanted to get out of the New Order's "regime". He attempted to escape West Seattle. A couple years before, Heinrich might have been executed but in that time, recruits were becoming harder to come by. So, Heinrich, an eleven year-old boy, was instead publicly whipped in front of the other recruits. After his public whipping and further beating, Heinrich had finally been broken. For the rest of his training, Heinrich tried to toe the line with the rest of the recruits. This still did not spare Heinrich from the physical abuse of his fellow recruits, particularly from an older recruit named Franz. This constant bullying gave Heinrich some major insecurities, not being able to defend himself and constantly failing to meet his trainer's expectations. So, to try to make himself feel better Heinrich immersed himself in the New Order's militant white supremacist ideology. The belief that he was a member of a race destined for greatness and that he by extension was also destined for greatness granted Heinrich a large degree of comfort. However, it, along with his constant bullying, gave Heinrich a rather severe persecution complex that he would carry for the rest of his life. He remained friendless, skittish, and socially inept. Puberty was a hard time for Heinrich, like many other New Order recruits. Recruits were not allowed to be near any females during their training and the few female recruits of their age were trained separately from the males. Many recruits, including Heinrich, had trouble keeping their hormones in check while some others resorted to less than savory means to "relieve themselves". Heinrich's teenage libido was limited his possession of a single Grognak the Barbarian comic containing a particularly curvy damsel in distress. He kept this comic a treasured secret alongside the Vault-Tec bobblehead his mother gave him. In 2233, the recruits were six years into their training and hardened. As all sixteen year-old recruits were supposed to do, Heinrich's age group went through a traditional teenage rite of passage of the New Order. This rite of passage involved staying a two days and two nights within the burnt ruins of the Pens. Stories of the Pens and what happened in there terrified Heinrich, and he was visibly scared in the days preceding the rite of passage. This caused more torment for Heinrich as other recruits mistreated him for his "weakness". However, he still went through with the rite of passage. Heinrich and the rest of the recruits sneaked their way through Seattle to get to the ruins of the Pens. They settled down in the Pens and readied themselves for the night. Heinrich explored the empty halls of the Pens while his fellow recruits set up mats, looking at the burned, collapsed walls and the broken, abandoned items littered everywhere. This frightened Heinrich, and he had difficulty sleeping that night on his mat. In the early hours of the morning, Heinrich was awakened to pained cries coming from nearby. He got up with his knife and found some of the other recruits wrestling with one of their number, who was screaming his head off. On the ground was the bloodied corpse of Heinrich's primary tormentor, Franz. Heinrich joined the struggle and after a minute or so, the mad recruit ran off deeper into the Pens. Some of the New Order recruits gave chase while Heinrich and some others stayed behind in their sleeping area. Heinrich tried to figure out why Franz had been slain, but no one seemed certain of the reason. There were rumors though nothing seemed confirmed. Heinrich had his own conspiracy about chems and sodomy, but he kept that to himself. As the recruits returned saying they had killed the insane one, the group debated whether to continue with their rite of passage or go home. Heinrich was thoroughly spooked and wanted to go back to West Seattle. However, the rest of the group decided to carry on with their rite of passage. Too afraid (and ashamed) to return on his own, Heinrich was forced to stay. That night, Heinrich began hear rustling noises and a sort of soft moaning outside of the sleeping area, setting him more on edge. The day after the murder was primarily spent getting the bodies away from the sleeping area and further exploring the remains of the Pens. The building was as creepy as ever but had lost much of its prior fearful mystery to Heinrich. The coming night however remained an object of fear for Heinrich, and he was initially unable to sleep after lying down. Heinrich eventually dosed off though. A little after midnight, Heinrich was shaken awake. He was greeted by another recruit, Thule, who gestured for Heinrich to get his knife and follow him. After getting up, Heinrich almost instantly became aware of a distant crunching sound, low but consistent. A short walk later, Heinrich and Thule came to a doorway into a room where the floor had collapsed. The crunching noise had grown louder and seemed to be coming from that room. Thule encouraged Heinrich to look in. Frightened but determined not to show it, Heinrich looked into the room. The room was where the recruits had dumped the bodies of the two dead boys, into the pit where the floor had been. It was dark but a hole in the roof provided a sliver of light. That sliver of moonlight revealed a deformed, monstrous creature that was hunched over the bodies, digging in. This disgusted Heinrich, but he did not overreact, only asked why Thule had not stopped the creature from eating the bodies. Thule was disappointed and said that he had expected Heinrich to shit his pants. He made fun of Heinrich regardless. This talking attracted the attention of the feral ghoul, and it turned its attention to the two recruits. While Thule was laughing at Heinrich, the feral ghoul leaped from the pit to attack without warning. It latched onto Thule and began to tear his throat out. At the same time, the feral ghoul knocked Heinrich to the ground, and he watched frozen as it tore into Thule. The feral ghoul spent about a minute tearing into Thule before it turned its attention to Heinrich, transfixed on the ground watching it feed. The feral looked at Heinrich with hunger in its eyes, and Heinrich knew exactly what it wanted. The feral ghoul leaped at Heinrich and pinned him to the ground, trying to tear his throat out. Struggling to hold off the feral, Heinrich managed to unsheathe his combat knife and plunged it into the mutant several times. Heinrich managed to kill the mutant after a couple of stabbings and got up. Bruised and battered, he hauled himself back to the recruits' sleeping area and awakened everyone, telling them what had happened. Many of the recruits at first disregarded what Heinrich said, annoyed that he had awakened them the middle of the night, but upon finding the bodies further into the ruins of the Pens, they believed him. It even earned Heinrich the begrudging respect of some of the recruits. Thule was thrown into the pit with the other two dead recruits while the feral ghoul was thrown outside the ruins of the Pens. The next day, the recruits came back to West Seattle from their rite of passage with the three bodies in toe and a lot of stories to tell. Heinrich personally stayed to himself and remained reluctant to repeat his story. This lessened the newly-earned respect many of his fellow recruits held for him and soon enough, things were to what they were before with Heinrich often being put upon by other recruits. However, things were not quite the same as before. Heinrich's primary tormentor, Franz, was now gone, allowing him to get away from some of his more crippling anxieties and focus on his training. Heinrich continued to excel with his ideological training, actually writing a poem on the lying, unscrupulous nature of Jews in 2233 called "The Seed of Jacob". This poem was well-received by Heinrich's trainers and one trainer in particular, Henry Barstow, told Heinrich that he had the potential to become a trainer himself. This gave Heinrich great hope and after that, he attempted to achieve the status of a trainer within the New Order. However, an incident happened in late 2233 involving a knife that caused Heinrich to sustain a major beating, wounding his confidence. Word of his mother's untimely death in 2234 also hurt Heinrich's resolve. He eventually gave up on becoming a trainer and just focused on becoming a footsoldier again. Heinrich eventually did become a footsoldier in 2235 after nearly nine years of training. There was an inglorious graduation ceremony, and Heinrich was unceremoniously shoved onto the frontlines to fight the New Order's enemies like hundreds before him. Service to the New Order Heinrich began his service as a New Order footsoldier in 2235, fighting against the New Order's enemies from Chinatown. He was put on the northernmost barricade to protect West Seattle, the New Order's home, from incursions. These attacks often came out of a need for revenge against the New Order for past wrongs due to the New Order's "kill on sight" policy. In the first year of being a footsoldier, Heinrich mostly fought Chinatown militia, feral ghouls, and raiders. That year would be rough for Heinrich. He managed to survive against all odds though despite the difficulties he faced such as dangerous patrols and long nights on watch. Survival would only grow harder with time. At the same time, Heinrich had trouble making friends while serving as a footsoldier. His constant paranoia and perceived weakness caused many of his fellow footsoldiers to avoid fraternizing with him. The only person that Heinrich could really call a friend was Moore, a footsoldier with an albino mutation that also set him apart. Moore and Heinrich would often hang out with each other on their downtime, taking pot-shots at feral ghouls and discussing their ideas about the world. Desperate for friendship, Moore fed Heinrich's obsession with "conspiracies" (not considered conspiracy theories by the New Order) by constantly agreeing with him. Most of Heinrich's early conspiracy theories related to the Jew's involvement in the Great War and the decline of the West. Over the next couple of years, Heinrich continued fighting with the grunts in the trenches while men like Paul Turner and Scutari rose to prominence. His existence was nothing short of hellish, being a constant cycle of battle and torment from his fellow footsoldiers. The food was dismal, the other footsoldiers were constantly hostile, and the fight did not seem fulfilling at all to Heinrich. The New Order's "kill on sight" policy pertaining to enemies and non-white races wore on Heinrich, with him having to shoot at anyone who approached his barricade. Heinrich preferred not to linger long enough on their bodies to see if they were children or adults. The only things that kept Heinrich going were his faith in the New Order's ideals and his yes-man friend Moore. All the while, Heinrich was told that the New Order's situation was in fact improving, with victories on almost every front. This gave no comfort to Heinrich and furthermore he also took no mind of the internal politics within the New Order between Paul Turner, Otto Wernher, and Henry Barstow. He was more concerned over the overall success of the New Order and his own survival. This viewpoint became more pointed after Paul Turner became commander, as Heinrich saw Turner as soft towards "jews, beatniks, gooks, and niggers". However, Heinrich was temporarily appeased by word of Commander Turner's sustained campaign against Chinatown. Soon afterwards though, Heinrich learned that meant the war on his front was about the heat up. In 2241, Heinrich participated in an offensive towards Chinatown that technically "succeeded" but yielded high casualties. Moore was injured in this battle and was sent back to West Seattle permanently, depriving Heinrich of some much needed encouragement. It was during Paul Turner's early days as commander that Heinrich's life descended into a deeper place than it ever had been or ever would be. The Chinatown militias came wave after wave, week after week, seemingly without end for years. As time wore on, Heinrich developed a new conspiracy theory: the battle between the New Order and Chinatown was fundamentally a Clash of Civilizations and a continuation of the Sino-American War. Years of battle against the Chinatown cemented this in his mind. It also stuck in Heinrich due to reaccuring nightmares involving the bloody battle outside Chinatown. Heinrich's fear of the "Yellow Peril" amused his squad-mates and gave them yet another thing to make fun of him for. Heinrich and the rest of his squad also had to fight enemies such as super mutants, mirelurks, raiders, and robots on a semi-daily basis. This wore Heinrich and his squad-mates' morale down to a nub. Word of negotiations being carried out and peace fell on deaf ears. Time passed and the footsoldiers around Heinrich became even more jaded. Heinrich just became more neurotic from taking abuse while still clinging to his ideology and conspiracy theories. So, it came as little surprise to Heinrich's squad when word came in 2247 that a grand coalition had been formed by many groups and settlements in Seattle specifically to eliminate the New Order. Word came first that Paul Turner had been taken captive, then said in panicked tones that Heinrich's squad should makes its way back to West Seattle and to abandon their barricade. This gave the footsoldiers, Heinrich included, some relief that they were finally leaving "that faggot" behind. However, Heinrich felt a little sentimental about the barricade as well, remembering his twelve years protecting it as time well spent. Heinrich's squad made their way back to West Seattle and prepared for the worst. Heinrich and his squad were specifically sent to help fortify Camp Long, the New Order's first line of defense against the coming storm. The defense of Camp Long was led by Henry Barstow, the "Man from the Before Times". Heinrich was excited to be fighting side by side with such a man and before the battle went to talk to Barstow. Barstow did not initially recognize Heinrich as the bright young recruit he had inspired years before but with some memory jogging, he remembered. He said he was happy to see Heinrich still alive after all this time and that it would be an honor to fight beside him. Heinrich sensed an insincere tone in Barstow's voice and instantly felt dejected, feeling that the man was just humoring him since Heinrich had ended up a footsoldier, not a trainer. That saddened Heinrich, but he still thanked Barstow for his comments and returned to his post protecting Camp Long. The anti-New Order coalition came down first on Camp Long, and they came down hard. Camp Long had been a park before the bombs fell and was not very defensible from a tactical standpoint. However, Henry Barstow and his force of New Order were still determined to defend Camp Long with their lives. The footsoldiers utilized Camp Long's forest for cover while thoroughly booby-trapping all the buildings in the area. Henry Barstow wanted to kill as many enemies as possible even in the event of the New Order's defeat. The battle was indeed a bloodbath, and Heinrich was caught up in the middle of it. He was stationed up in a scavenged pre-War deer stand to shoot any approaching enemies from a distance along one other footsoldier he did not know. The only other thing in the deer stand was a radio that would tell the footsoldier of enemy troop movements. It was cold winter day, and he could hardly see anything through the trees. That is why he heard them first. Chinatown militiamen yelling in their exotic language, ghouls screeching inhuman sounds, super mutants belching intelligible grunts. When Heinrich saw the first ghoul, he opened fire and seemingly did not stop for a half an hour except to reload and to briefly listen to the radio for news. At the half hour mark, both Heinrich and the other footsoldier were still alive but the other footsoldiers around them had seemingly died. No more enemies were coming their way anymore. Looking around, Heinrich came to the conclusion that they had now behind enemy lines. Somehow, the anti-New Order coalition must have not caught Heinrich and his fellow footsoldier because they were above the treeline. This was confirmed by a radio transmission that told the pair that the New Order in Camp Long was falling back to Henry Barstow's position to try to hold off coalition forces until reinforcements arrived. Heinrich and the other footsoldier debated for about ten minutes before deciding to at least scout out the fallback area to see if there was anything left of the New Order there. They arrived at the fallback area to see hundreds of soldiers from the coalition encircling the area, trapping a clump of determined New Order holdouts in the middle. On the Run Early Days on the Radio Making a Name Mountain Confrontations Twilight Years Personality Relationships Appearance Equipment His New Order's modified riot gear is still in Heinrich's possession, but he rarely wears it. Quotes By About Category:Cascadia